


Underwater

by sagewillow



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood, Blood and Injury, Clubbing, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Drugged Sex, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injury, M/M, Major Character Injury, Rape, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-23 08:00:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30052356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagewillow/pseuds/sagewillow
Summary: With each step he took, Taeyong only felt worse. The edges of his vision were getting fuzzy. The music seemed to fade away from him a little, his ears starting to ring. His stomach felt uneasy too, making rumbling noises, which he brought a hand down to try and diffuse as he stumbled forward.He steered his direction towards the bathrooms, but at some point he must have taken a wrong turn. He was in some kind of lobby, with marble columns coming down from the ceiling. Taeyong rested against one of them, pressing his hot cheek against it.If anyone saw me like this, I'd probably be kicked out of the club for being too intoxicated, he thought.
Kudos: 17





	1. Submerged

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING!! Please read the tags of this fanfiction before you start reading, so that you know what you're getting into. Please don't read this fanfiction if you have your own personal sexual trauma that may be triggered. This is a work of fiction, it is a creative outlet, and of course I would never wish this upon anyone - especially these 'characters'. This is not a piece of writing that glorifies or sexualises rape, it is a realistic portrayal of what someone may be thinking or feeling or experiencing if they were subjected to this situation.  
> In saying that, if you're still here and keen to read, I hope you enjoy watching boys suffer as much as I do~

Taeyong heard his head connect with the polished-concrete floor before he felt it.

It rang through his ears, dulled by the fuzziness he was feeling in his head. It sounded almost like he was underwater. When he felt it, he didn't feel pain. It felt like his skull was vibrating, it made his teeth clatter in his mouth. He felt a jolt of something that might have been pain, but it faded away quickly with the rest of the room following it.

Something definitely wasn't right. He could usually handle his alcohol, what was so different about tonight?

He'd begrudgingly agreed to go out with Jaehyun and Johnny, typically not enjoying the clubbing scene. Maybe he'd made the excuse that he hadn't been out in a while, maybe he went because he was offered free drinks, he couldn't quite remember. But before he knew it, he was standing by the bar of a fancy hotel club, wishing he'd just stayed home as sweaty bodies danced uncomfortably around him. A few girls approached him offering to buy him a drink, even the occasional guy, but he'd waved them away without much interest. He spent most of the night just watching Jaehyun and Johnny dance to whatever western music was playing from the DJ booth at the front, having the time of their lives.

The two had tried to drag Taeyong onto the dance floor at one point, and he put up with awkwardly bobbing up and down for one or two songs before escaping back to the bar. He had been counting his drinks carefully, marking a tally on his hand, like a responsible person. When his head started feeling cloudy and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, he looked down at his tally-marks and frowned. He was only at three. Usually he could go at least five or six before getting tipsy, maybe one or two more than that and he was drunk. Three? He checked again, and three black lines stared back at him. 

_They must have been strong cocktails,_ Taeyong thought to himself as he pushed his half-empty glass away from him, blinking his eyes to try and get them to focus. He felt a little dizzy where he was standing, but he put it down to being in the hot room, probably needing a few breaths of fresh air. He thought about going outside, but he was worried he wouldn't be able to get back in again if it was too busy. Then he remembered the smoker's lounge on the top floor, where the roof was open. It would smell like cigarettes, but there would still be some kind of airflow up there. Taeyong made up his mind, sliding off the bar stool and steadying himself on his feet before walking towards the marble stairs around the side of the building.

With each step he took towards the staircase, he only felt worse. The edges of his vision were getting fuzzy. The music seemed to fade away from him a little, his ears starting to ring. His stomach felt uneasy too, making rumbling noises, which he brought a hand down to try and diffuse as he stumbled forward. Maybe he needed to throw up? He steered his direction towards the bathrooms, wondering if he'd feel better if he puked. But as he turned, he was only met with a marble wall, staring back at himself in the reflection of the polished tiles. At some point he must have taken a wrong turn. He was in some kind of lobby, with marble columns coming down from the ceiling. Taeyong rested against one of them, pressing his hot cheek against it. _If anyone saw me like this, I'd probably be kicked out of the club for being too intoxicated,_ he thought.

Through his blurred vision he saw one of the marble columns split into two. No, it was a person who had been standing behind it, he thought a little more clearly. He couldn't make out the details of the person's face, they just seemed like a black smudge on the edge of his vision. He didn't notice how heavy he was breathing, because he couldn't hear himself. He could see the heaving of his chest though, as his hands balled into fists when the figure approached him. He was in no position to defend himself, in his state of intoxication. He let himself be dragged away from the lobby towards a door, maybe it was the bathroom? Maybe the figure was helping him, leading him in the right direction? 

The wooden door swung open. The gold door knob was the only thing Taeyong could focus his eyes on, noticing the one-way lock, the key in the hole. Did the figure have the key? Or was it already in there? Realising that public bathrooms didn't usually have locks and keys, he tried to pull against the stranger's grip, but he didn't get very far. He felt wetness on his cheeks, and he realised he must have been crying. 

That's when his head hit the concrete. The stranger must have pushed him over, having already been unsteady on his legs. He felt a dull pain in his shoulder, which must have hit the floor as well. His hazy eyes focused and unfocused, trying to figure out where he was. He saw cardboard boxes that had messy writing on the fronts which he couldn't read. He saw what might have been a bottle of cleaning product, empty and tipped on its side on one of the shelves that lined three walls of the room. He wasn't conscious enough to tell how big the room was, his depth perception messing him up. It felt so spacious yet so claustrophobic at the same time, his hot breath coming out just in front of his face and not dispersing. 

Suddenly he wasn't as warm, and he couldn't tell why, until his own shirt was wrapped around his wrists to constrain him. _When did he take my shirt off?_ He knew it was a man, by the size of his body and his strong grip that was bruising his thighs. He tried to call for help, and he felt like he was screaming, but it came out as mothing more than a whimper.

He tried to get his hands untangled from his shirt, but his motor skills weren't keeping up with him. He felt his head throb, hearing his own heartbeat in his ears. He thought he could hear running water, but it could have been his own blood rushing through his veins. He glanced beside him where his pants had been tossed in a pile. He blinked tears from his eyes, trying to make out his abuser's face, but they really did just look like a blackness, a darkness in the room with no defining features. His eyes rolled back for a moment, the white LED lights above him burning into his brain, leaving small blue dots in his vision wherever he looked.

He felt his body being man-handled, pushed onto his front and bent in a weird position, and there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to catch his breath again, but he felt as if he'd been running for hours, unable to get enough oxygen into his lungs. He barely registered that he was drooling onto the polished concrete underneath him, having lost control over his mouth now. His lips felt thick and numb, his tongue still heavy from before. He couldn't call for help if he tried. His cheek grazed against the floor as his body was rhythmically thrust forward, his bound hands pressed underneath his body, making his fingers go numb. He tried to kick out with his feet, but the figure held him in place with strong rough hands.

He felt the wetness on his cheeks again, joined with wetness between his legs. His first thought was that he urinated himself, but even though his head felt submerged, he knew better. He knew it was probably blood, and something else that his mind didn't linger on for too long. He felt his body giving up, his knees slipped down as his strength left him. The figure didn't seem to mind, holding his hips up as he continued what he was doing.

It didn't hurt. He didn't feel anything, not only pain. He couldn't feel his fingers, or most of his body. The feeling of wetness escaped him too, all sensations on his skin being blocked out. _Maybe this is what shock is,_ he thought. _Maybe trauma is stopping me from feeling._

As soon as it had started, it was over. He couldn't tell how long it had been, how long since he was dragged into the storage closet. He felt the hands around his hips let him go, and his body pressed against the polished concrete. He was grateful for the coldness against his hot skin. Was he hot? Or was he cold? He couldn't really tell.

There was no longer only one other figure in the room. There was another, no, _two_ others, and Taeyong felt his legs tremble involuntarily. But they were fighting, the two figures that had just entered, he could hear their scuffle as things fell from the shelves around him on the floor. A heavy boot stomped beside his head, and he wondered what would have happened if they had stomped on the back of his head.

Then he was being dragged up off the floor, but he wasn't able to help whoever had lifted him, his limbs feeling too heavy. He felt like he was half asleep, in the light dreaming stage of his sleep cycle where he wasn't quite awake, but he knew he wasn't asleep. He was being spoken to, but he couldn't make out the words. He tried to turn to the man to read his lips, but his eyes wouldn't open very far, and un-blinked tears shrouded his vision.

It was Johnny.

The realisation hit him, as he stared at Johnny's signature jewellery around his neck. He should have been able to tell from the smell of him, he thought as the older man held him close and hoisted him back out into the room with the marble pillars. Taeyong's head was spinning again as blood pumped back to his brain, and the columns started tilting to the side. He tried to speak, but ended up choking on his own blood, which pooled onto his tongue like a bitter wine. He let it drip past his lips, too exhausted to hack it out of his stomach.

He must have finally blacked out into a restless slumber, because that part of his memories was missing. The next thing he could see was flashing lights, they might have been red, like a siren or an exit light. He could have imagined it, too. He felt a dull pain throbbing inside him, but he couldn't tell if it was emotional or physical pain.

Then he felt like he was floating, a cold liquid seeping through the veins in his arm that travelled through his body quickly. If he had been submerged in water before, he was now being dragged to the surface. His ears popped and the voices around him became a little clearer, but he didn't pay attention to what they were saying. He tasted metal, and felt saltwater stinging in his cuts and wounds. Where were his cuts and wounds? Did he even have any?

He briefly thought about a cocktail that he'd had earlier in the night, what was it called? Beach something? He wasn't sure if he'd bought it, or if the bartender had just given it to him.

The coldness seeped away from him and he was warm again. It was like someone had placed a warm blanket over him, he felt the edge of the cotton between his fingertips, but his eyelids were too heavy to open his eyes and look at it. He imagined it was an off-white beige colour, but he couldn't be sure. The warmth was getting too much, and he felt a drip of sweat trickle down his neck, uncomfortable. He wanted to raise a hand to wipe it away, but someone was holding his arm again, putting something into him.

And that was the end of it, what he could remember of that night.


	2. Resurfaced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun and Johnny lose Taeyong in the club, and Jaehyun doesn't want to expect the worst - but when his fears come true, he'll do anything to protect his friend, even if that means putting himself in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same warnings as the previous chapter apply - please look at all of the tags before you begin reading!

"Where's Taeyongie?"

Johnny's panicked face floated in front of Jaehyun's vision. Jaehyun was confused, letting out a startled chuckle. He figured Johnny was too drunk, he often got overprotective over his friends when he was in that state of mind.

He leaned forward, trying to raise his voice over the music from where they stood in the middle of the dance floor. "He's over by the bar, like he has been all night."

Johnny shook his head, and Jaehyun noticed that his jaw was set hard. He grabbed Jaehyun's wrist, attempting to drag him away from the masses of dancing bodies around him, which he tried to fight against. He was having such a _good time_ , the stress and pressure from working all week finally slipping away from him the longer he stayed there. So of course he didn't want to leave, especially for no reason.

Johnny whipped around to face him again, his grip on his wrist tightening. "Jaehyun, he's _not there._ We have an obligation as his friends to keep an eye on him."

The younger tilted his head to the side. Not there? Taeyong didn't enjoy clubbing, he didn't like being amongst the crowds of people and he didn't like dancing, he usually only came along for support or for the drinks. He often took the 'responsible mom' role on when they got a little too rowdy, he was always the one to order the Uber or hold their hair back the next morning when they puked. His eyes flickered over to the bar, and Johnny was right - the bar stool that he was previously sat at was empty. He let Johnny lead him over there, trying to see if he had merely moved places.

He wasn't there. His eyes scanned the dance floor, but there was no way he was there either. He tried to look around for the bartender to see if he could ask if he'd noticed where Taeyong had gone, but there was no one behind the bar. A cold shiver ran down Jaehyun's spine.

Johnny spun around to him, "Maybe he's in the bathroom?"

Jaehyun nodded, thinking that would make sense. "You check the bathroom, I'll check upstairs to see if he went to get some air."

Pushing his way through the crowd, Jaehyun took two stairs at a time to get to the smoker's lounge. He tried to hold his breath as he scanned the room, the cigarette smoke usually not agreeing with his lungs. He looked up at the stars through the open roof, remembering the first time he brought Taeyong up there after he almost had a panic attack in the entrance. He remembered how much calmer the older male got, just looking at the stars and breathing in the night air, the music downstairs becoming a low thudding noise in the background. He thought maybe Taeyong got overwhelmed and needed to go up there, but he was still nowhere in sight.

He met Johnny halfway back down on the stairs, noticing tears brewing in the older's eyes, clearly panicking. He willed Johnny to calm down, but he felt himself getting worked up too. It felt like everyone around him was touching him, the music from the dancefloor was uncomfortably vibrating through his head. He could barely hear what Johnny was trying to say to him over all the noise and chaos. He had to get out of there. 

He kept a firm grip on Johnny's shirt sleeve as he pulled him away from the chaos, almost getting separated in the crowd a few times. Finally they were away, in the lobby that led to the hotel rooms. Jaehyun sucked in a breath, his eyes scanning the room for any sight of their missing Taeyong. 

"What if he's hurt? What if he was taken away?" Johnny's hands were shaking as he stuttered out his concerns. 

Jaehyun gritted his teeth. "Don't freak me out, Johnny. I'm wound up enough as it is."

The older shot him an apologetic look, before they both heard it. A banging noise, that wasn't coming from behind them in the club. Jaehyun tried to train his ears to the source of it, but it was lost in the noise. The two men locked eyes, sharing a look. The noises from the club faded behind them as they strode through the lobby, trying to listen out for anything else, anything that could have indicated the presence of someone else. 

Jaehyun was almost ready to give up when he heard a voice, a deeper one intertwined with a more high-pitched one, but they weren't saying words - it sounded more like noises... The younger cringed, thinking they might have been listening in on a random couple getting it on somewhere, but Johnny's grip around his wrist stopped him from backing away. Johnny gestured towards a door that was tucked around one of the marble columns near the back of the room. 

The higher-pitched noises stopped, and all they could hear was deep rhythmic grunting, and what sounded like a scuffle. Jaehyun's legs wouldn't move as he thought about what was happening on the other side of the door, the worst images floating through his brain. He wished he was wrong, that he was just overthinking and it really was a random couple from the club. 

Johnny strode forward and Jaehyun tried to hiss at him to stop, but he was already there. He tried the doorknob but it didn't open - it must have been locked from the inside. The older male cursed under his breath, taking a few steps back to join Jaehyun, his hands shaking. "So what? We just wait here for it to finish?"

Jaehyun's eyebrows furrowed, "We don't even know what _it_ is, Johnny. It could be a staff room, or it could be some random chick getting rooted..." he sighed, rubbing a hand over his sweaty face. "Shouldn't we just wait by the bar? What if he comes back and freaks out because we're not around?"

The doorknob turned, from the inside. Both of their heads shot towards the noise, Jaehyun felt his heart beat faster in his chest as the door opened and a man emerged. He was a looming figure, wearing all black, the word 'bartender' printed on the pocket of his shirt. He had a black face-mask covering the lower half of his face, but the exposed skin was red and flushed. Jaehyun thought he might have been getting supplies out of the storage cupboard, which explained his absence from the bar, until his eyes trained to the lifeless figure on the floor of the room. 

There was no mistaking him. The ripped-jeans next to him that he had been wearing, which Jaehyun had told him looked good when they were at home. His mess of blonde hair, which Johnny helped him bleach in the bathroom last month, his black roots growing through quicker than he could keep up with. The rings on his fingers, which were restrained by his own white shirt that he'd gotten from Osaka on their holiday last spring, which was now streaked with a mess of blood and body fluid. There was blood on the polished-concrete floor. Jaehyun saw red.

Before the figure could respond he charged at him, slamming his own petite body against him with such force that it forced them both into the storage closet that smelled like chemicals and metal and _sweat_. Jaehyun swung a punch, hissing as he felt his knuckles connect with the larger man's head, though it didn't do much. The man grabbed a handful of his shirt, trying to rip him off of him, but Jaehyun was doing everything he could to hurt or maim the man. He scratched out with his nails, feeling the skin on his arms tear underneath his fingertips as he kicked him as hard as he could. The bartender was shouting and cursing, trying to get away, disregarding Taeyong's helpless body on the floor as he kicked past him and almost planted his heavy boot on his head. Jaehyun yelled out through his gritted teeth, grabbing a handful of his awful greasy hair and dragging him away from Taeyong's crumpled body so that he was safer.

He slammed the man against the shelves, a satisfying crack sounding out from where the man's head connected with the shelf. He saw Johnny dragging Taeyong out of the room, thankful to see the younger was still at least somewhat conscious as he stumbled out. A glint of light from the floor caught his eye as he tried to think of his next move, and realised it was the key - the assaulter must have dropped it when he charged at him. Jaehyun thought of the type of lock on the door, how it locked from the inside, but there was also a place for a key on the outside.

He stumbled forward before the man could rise again, snatching up the key and slamming the door behind him with a loud slam, making himself flinch. With shaky fingers he shoved the key into the handle lock on the outside, cursing the adrenaline for making his fingers feel numb. It took a moment, but he finally twisted the key home just in time as he heard a thud on the other side of the door. He backed away, his head throbbing.

It had all happened so fast. He whipped around to find his worst nightmare - Taeyong was collapsed on the floor, naked underneath Johnny's jacket that was slung over him, streaks of blood on the decorative marble floors beneath him. There was saliva bubbling up from the corner of his mouth, his eyes looked like they were rolled back under his eyelids. Johnny was hysterical, trying to shout directions into his phone which was presumably the emergency services. Jaehyun felt bile rising in his throat as their situation hit him.

He fell to his knees beside the older's lifeless body, his head falling into his hands as he finally let out a choked sob. "I'm so sorry, Yongie, I'm so so sorry-" He hiccupped, taking Taeyong's now unbound hand in his own. "This is all my fault, I'm sorry..."

Why had he even dragged Taeyong out to the club in the first place, knowing he didn't really like it there? Maybe he thought he'd help him have a good time, maybe he thought he was just trying to get him out of the house for a change. But that was where he _wanted_ to be, at home, within his own comfort zone. How had Jaehyun not figured that out before?

He stayed there, kneeling on the floor with Taeyong's cold hand in his grasp until they were joined by paramedics, which seemed to cause a stir in the club as a small crowd gathered around them. Jaehyun tried to ignore them as he explained the situation with Johnny's help, directing the police who came soon after to the storage cupboard which held all the evidence they would need to sue the shit out of the club and send the assaulter to prison.

The next few minutes were a whir - Jaehyun's head was still a little uneasy from the alcohol he'd had earlier combined with the adrenaline that was still pumping through his veins. He held Taeyong's hand as he was hoisted onto a sling and taken to the awaiting ambulance out the front of the hotel, and begrudgingly held his tongue when he was told he couldn't go in the ambulance with them, catching an Uber to the hospital with a very shaken-up looking Johnny. He tried to comfort him, but there wasn't much he could say to the older man who held his own blood-stained jacket in his hands that had been over Taeyong's shivering body just minutes earlier.

When they finally pulled up and made their way through reception, they were told the bad news.

"It looks like he was drugged," Taeyong's assigned nurse explained to them, "A very dangerous substance was used to alter his consciousness, he's had to be put into surgery to drain his body of the chemical."

That explained it, Jaehyun thought, knowing Taeyong was usually level-headed enough to keep himself safe in most situations. He thought about how easy it would have been for the bartender to roofie his drink without him even knowing, no matter how safe he was trying to be.

Johnny blinked tears out of his eyes from beside him, taking a shaky breath. "So he's in surgery now?"

The nurse nodded, sending him a sympathetic look. "The morphine wasn't a strong enough pain relief, he would have been suffering if we did it while he's awake.

Jaehyun thought about the time a few weeks ago when Taeyong was boasting about never having needed surgery before, never having broken a bone or anything. He'd kept himself so safe, never experienced any serious pains in his life, and Jaehyun had really thought it would always be that way. _That's because you have great self-preservation,_ Jaehyun had told him, _you care about your body's safety, unlike the rest of us idiots._

He never should have invited Taeyong out.


End file.
